Rindis.com

And now for the sixteenth set of Dungeons & Sorcery spells. I finally get around to presenting the (long) writeups for Polymorph Other and Polymorph Self.

Emotion (SC)
Enchantment, Somatic, Verbal, Area (Fixed)
108 points
Casting Time: 4 seconds
Casting Roll: Innate Attack (Gaze) to aim
Range: 100 yards
Duration: 1 minute

The caster attempts to inspire one emotion in everyone in a 4-yard radius of the point he aimed at (see Scatter, B414, on a miss). The Sway Emotions skill (B192) has guidelines on what is possible, and in general reactions to this should be role-played.

However, there are mechanical benefits, which are also up to the GM’s discretion to apply. Every person in the area of effect rolls a Quick Contest of IQ (plus caster’s Talent), with victory exempting them from the effects of the spell, though they will still feel the emotion, just not at a level where it affects/controls actions. (A character can ‘choose not to resist’ a helpful emotion from a trusted caster, at which point, assume a “failure” of 3.)

Despite the first paragraph, there are mechanical benefits and penalties to being under the sway of this spell. The MoF of the Quick Contest is a die roll modifier to all rolls touching that emotion for the next minute. Notably, “courage” and “fear” will generate bonuses or penalties to Fright Checks within that time. Similar conditions can apply to many Reaction Rolls (e.g., an inexperienced hireling told to advance on the scary-looking monster may need a Reaction Roll to follow orders; proper use of emotion could help with this). This spell will never cause a Fright Check or similar, though it might make what was an “assumed” good or bad Reaction Roll into one that is actually rolled and modified.

Mind Control (Area Effect, 4 yd., +150%; Emotion Control, –50%; Independent, +70%; Requires Gestures, –10%; Requires Magic Words, –10%; Sorcery, –15%; Takes Extra Time, x4, –20%) [2.15×50] Note: I’m adding the modifiers to Emotion Control to give it some extra punch, and separate it from the cinematic enthrallment skill. Consider it a house rule.
↓ Read the rest of this entry…

And now for another set of ten spells for Dungeons & Sorcery. The big standby of the bunch is lightning bolt, and the spells are generally third or fourth level. By my rarity system, fourth is when spells start getting harder to find, so we’re seeing a lot more semi-common, and named ones will go to uncommon.

Chill Shield (SC)
Evocation, Somatic, Verbal
47 points
Casting Time: 4 seconds
Casting Roll: none
Range: None
Duration: 10 minutes

The caster is wrapped in a veil of blue or green flames that do no damage, but are cold to the touch. All fire-based attacks are reflected by this shield—the caster takes no damage, and the damage is dealt to the attacker instead—if it can take damage from such an attack. However, all injury from cold-based attacks is doubled.

This is the twin of warm shield, and is usually found in spellbooks together with it.

Static (Fire; Extended Duration, x10, +40%; Reflection, +100%; Requires Gestures, –⁠10%; Requires Magic Words, –10%; Sorcery, –15%; Takes Extra Time, x4, –20%; Temporary Disadvantage: Vulnerability (Cold), x2, –30%) [1.55×30]
↓ Read the rest of this entry…

Well, it’s been three years, but occasionally, I dust off this project. I actually wrote up a new general section, which is a tiny step towards the rules for a character creating their own new spells, or one-off castings. So, I’m presenting that along with the twelfth set of new spells for Dungeons & Sorcery.

Creating a Spellbook

Normally, creating a new spellbook is easy. Find a shop that sells blank ones (or make it yourself!), cast Copy Magic, and copy a spell from an existing written copy (no matter whose) into the new book.

It is possible for a magic-user to lose all of their spellbooks. A wise one will have spares back at home, but even those could be lost/destroyed. That requires the character to replace everything. The points spent for the spells represent the fact that the character has spent time and effort thoroughly learning the spell, and will be able to cast it without studying the spellbook (at a risk of the penalties from fickle). This means the magic-user can get a new empty spellbook and start writing spells down from memory for proper study later.

Copy Magic requires an existing written version to copy from, so starting from scratch does not use that and requires one hour of undistracted time per page (see the third paragraph of Spellbooks above) of the spell, and a roll against the appropriate specialty of Thaumatology (see Custom Spellcasting below). Success writes down the spell in a usable format without any problems. (Most likely the character would be inserting small notes and addenda over the next couple weeks as they’re thought of, but that isn’t explicitly called out in play.) Failure uses up the pages, but does not generate an entirely stable version of the spell; every cast of the spell from studying this version will need to roll for fickle, but at a ‘0 days’ penalty for not studying it.

Critical failure is similar to the above, but the magic-user will not realize there is a problem (at least not until the spell fails to work properly). It will always need a fickle roll (from the GM), with a –⁠2 to the roll on top of any “time since studied” penalties.

When writing a spell fresh like this, the character can alter it a bit, by writing down a higher-level version (not alternate spells that may be listed together, just levels). This can also be done with a spell that is available to hand, but still requires a skill roll (at +2) instead of use of Copy Magic. This causes a skill penalty equal to the number of increased levels of the spell, or the difference in number of levels of Sorcerous Empowerment required to use the new version, whichever is greater (in practice, this means use levels for spells that just gain a greater duration, and use Empowerment for maledictions). The character will also need to spend points to have access to the new higher-level version. (It would also be possible to lower the level of a spell for a skill bonus; this will not refund points, and the magic-user can always attempt to cast the full version they paid for, with fickle, and the modifier for time since studying it capped at the level difference. This could also be done to lower a spell to a cost that someone else could afford fit into their Sorcerous Empowerment and then copy into their spellbook with Copy Magic.)

A critical success with writing down a spell in this fashion allows the character to add one level to the spell automatically (this is on top of any deliberate increase made in the attempt as outlined above), if they wish to spend the points and it doesn’t go over their current Sorcerous Empowerment.
↓ Read the rest of this entry…